Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to underscore the need to invest in homegrown energy and to reduce our dependence on foreign energy. Our Nation's ability to produce a reliable low-cost domestic source of energy is both an economic issue and a national security issue. Two years ago, our Nation got a wake-up call. Gas prices exceeded $4 a gallon, even $5 in some places. It was a chilling reminder that the United States spends more than $400,000 per minute on foreign oil. That money is shipped out of our economy, adding to our enormous trade deficit and economic woes, and leaving us reliant on unstable parts of the world to meet our basic energy needs. Some of our colleagues have called for the volumetric ethanol excise tax credit--known as VEETC--to expire at the end of December. This tax credit was created 5 years ago to help bring ethanol from our farms to our gas pumps. It has helped us start to invest in the farmers and the workers of the Midwest instead of the oil cartels of the Mideast. My colleagues talk about how we need to let the free market solve our dependence on foreign energy. Well, I wholly support free markets, but I say: Let's have a level playing field and let the best ideas succeed. I would like to know if my colleagues truly think there is a level playing field for those trying to compete with the oil industry. We have an oil industry that has received decades of government support.…”